The invention relates to a method for producing a fiber composite component having at least one intersection or node point. An apparatus for producing a component, comprising fiber composite material, including lower and upper dies of a pressing tool and optionally a heat source, by means of which source the fiber composite material can be heated during its subjection to pressure in the pressing tool.
In high-temperature furnace and factory construction, in the hardening and sintering industry, bases of preferably gridlike structure that are resistant to high temperature and that must have high mechanical strength are used. CFC (carbon fiber reinforced carbon) grates have proven themselves for this purpose. In the prior art, they are put together from strips or are made from plate material, for instance by waterjet cutting. Grates of metal high temperature alloys made by casting are also known.
When CFC strip material is used, it must be cut out in the region of the intersection points in order to assure that the bearing area of the grid extends in the same plane, or in other words that no thickening of material is present in the region of the intersection points.
Such work is complicated and thus expensive. The same is true for the case where grids are cut out of plate material, since in this case the material waste is undesirably high. The known grates comprising CFC materials consequently have disadvantages with regard to machining and production costs and with regard to joining in the case of plugged-together systems.
The disadvantages in these regards may possibly not arise with grates made by casting. However, such grates have an undesirably high thermal capacity and can warp in the presence of frequently changing temperatures. The usage temperatures are also limited. A tendency to creepage and major wall thicknesses can be named as further disadvantages.
From International Patent Disclosure WO92/11126, a textile composite material with reinforcing fibers is known in which the intersection or node points have a greater thickness than the adjoining regions.
In order to produce a grid made of reinforcing fibers that has different elasticity in different directions, according to WO92/11126, first fiber bundles have a number of fibers that differs from second fiber bundles. After the production of the grid, the cross section of the grid in the region of the node points can be adapted to that of the adjoining regions by the exertion of pressure.